You Get One Chance To Make A First Impression
by honestgreenpirate
Summary: You get one chance, just one. The Doctor doesn't give second chances, he's that sort of a man. Every adventure, every story has to have a beginning. This is the start of Ella Marlowe's trip of a lifetime and all she's trying to do is stay upright. R&R.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story is dedicated to Seiya's Star who is one of my best reviewers and specially wanted to know how Ella and the Doctor met - well, this is it!**

**This story contains my OC Ella Marlowe who is in a lot of my other stories - you don't necessarily have to read those to understand this I don't think, any confusion let me know.**

**I don't own Doctor Who.**

Chapter One

Ella Marlowe had never been the sporty type. Not by any stretch of the word. She could throw and catch well enough, but had always preferred Rounders to Netball as it involved a lot more sitting round in the sun gossiping. Also, you were only ever called upon to run about every forty-five minutes or so and then it was more like a stroll around a couple of posts before going back to have a bit of a sit down. During school, when she was forced into compulsory Physical Education, her long legs had been the bane of her existence. Her teachers had always expected her to do well, sailing over high jumps or eating up the track when she ran, but she had never failed to disappoint on these occasions, likely to be found chatting to a friend will jogging the 1500 metres.

So, Ella wasn't that surprised by the sharp pain in her sides or the urge to throw up that almost overwhelmed her as she sprinted through the dark streets of London. She was running fast though, faster than she thought she'd ever done before which made her wonder if perhaps there hadn't been some truth in what her teachers used to say about her long legs, that it was possibly that she had never had the motivation to really leg it before.

Ella had that incentive now. And by the sounds of it, that incentive was gaining on her. Heavy footsteps grew closer and she hoped the sound of labored breathing originated from her own overactive imagination, or that it was her doing the breathing.

Mentally, she cursed herself, she knew she shouldn't have gone out that evening, just knew it. She hadn't even wanted to, not really, but had allowed herself to be persuaded and it ended like this. She was alone, decidedly over the limit, it was cold and pitch black and she was trying to outrun a monster she had cleverly irritated. Utter genius.

Actually, this probably wasn't how it was going to end. Her mind leapt forward a minute or two, she was tiring fast, and saw herself as nothing more than mangled, bloody remains. Left to be found by some unsuspecting member of the public, if not eaten.

No, she consciously checked her train of thought, it would do her no good to think like that. She glanced towards her feet, pounding hard against the pavement. To check that they were still working was it, the sarcastic part of her brain thought, the part she really had _no_ control over. She was happy to see that they were but surprised that she was wearing heels. Ella remembered putting them on earlier on in the evening now but was amazed she'd made it this far, she should definitely broken her ankle, if not her neck, by now.

Trying to prevent her mind from taking yet another morbid turn, she looked up and ahead once more, straining her neck to stop her from looking back at whatever it was that was following her. Her feet took an abrupt turn into a blind alley, though she didn't realise it was a dead end when she first turned in. By the time she did she knew that turning back was not and option and the only way out was through a pair of doors. By the time these thoughts finished travelling through her mind she was standing in front of her one and only escape route and without another thought she pushed them open and ran in, slamming them shut behind her.

She didn't stop running though, barely even paused. Whatever was following her wasn't going to be stopped by the flimsy feeling wooden door. So intent was she one her escape, Ella didn't register the different sound her heels made on the now metal floor.

She jumped the set of three shallow steps and was running again as soon as her feet hit the ground. Her stitch was no longer just in her sides but seemed to consume all of her as her muscles screamed in protest against the unaccustomed exercise.

Suddenly a blinding pain above her right eye obliterated the others and she barely had time to think that her heels had finally done for her before she slipped into unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I don't own Doctor Who - if I did there would be a lot less stress for everyone - thanks for that _Russell_.**

Chapter Two

It would have been completely impossible for Ella to say how long she'd been out. Could have been ten minutes, could have been a couple of hours. There was no light in this corridor that she'd ended up in, nothing to indicate how long she'd been lying on it's cold floor. She got slowly to her feet, one hand clasped firmly to her forehead as if to keep it in place. Finally achieving a mildly upright position she lent against the wall for a moment, waiting for the ground to stop rising and falling.

When it had and the spots in front of her eyes had disappeared she took a few tentative steps towards where she had come in. Her reasoning was that if the thing that had been chasing her had not found and devoured her by this point, she had probably lost it. She reached the steps she had jumped down earlier and more memories came back to her. Turning round, a little to suddenly for her spinning head, she saw a metal beam going across the corridor. Apparently she had been concentrating to hard on running to avoid it earlier, that and the added height of her heels. What type of building has metal beams like that anyway?

She turned back to what was turning into an epic journey out of this place and took the stairs slowly. Returning to the room she first entered, she marveled once more at the single mindedness she had had whilst running for her life. This place was beautiful and so - weird. There was metal grille instead of a normal floor, what could only be described as a control panel and twisting columns rising up towards a ceiling so far away as to be swallowed in gloom. As she walked forward her eyes remained trained on the darkness, trying to see something of what was up there.

A sudden noise made Ella snap her attention to what was before her once more, her eyes growing wide in fear once again. A tall, skinny, scruffy haired man had just appeared around the control panel and Ella felt her heart sink as she got the distinct impression she was doing some serious trespassing.

"Oh god," she breathed. Or perhaps she only thought she breathed it as the man snapped his head up at the moment, shock apparent in his face.

"What?" He demanded.

"Um - "

"What?" He sounded a bit angry now and Ella thought maybe she should try to placate him.

"Er - terribly sorry about this. I was er - er running from this - _thing_ and - " Expansive hand gestures didn't really seem to be helping the explanation.

"What?"

"Well, it was chasing me, you see, and I thought - "

He interrupted her.

"What are you doing here?"

"I told you, I was being chased, so I thought - "

And interrupted her again. It was almost if he didn't actually _want _to know.

"But how? I mean just - _how_?" She opened her mouth to try and explain once more but he interrupted her before she'd even begun to speak this time. "Hang on, you haven't been drinking coffee lately have you?"

"Erm, yes, actually. Can't really live without it. Necessity in the mornings - hang on, what are you doing?"

This time she interrupted herself. He was pointing a silver pen like object at her and the thing was emitting a whirring noise and a blue light.

"Just a quick scan, don't worry."

"Scan for what?" She was eyeing the object with mistrust.

"Huon particles." He wasn't even looking her in the face, his eyes were following the blue light up and down her body.

"What now?" She was distracted from what the particle thingys were, and they didn't sound like something she could have learnt about in Physics even if she had been paying attention, as the whirring became louder and higher pitched. "Is that thing safe?"

"Probably." He didn't seem overly concerned by the idea that it might not be.

"It's not going to give me, like, radiation poisoning or anything is it?"

"Shouldn't think so."

Irritated by his lack of concern and the fact he wasn't even looking at her she batted his hand away.

"Let's not risk it shall we." She said forcefully.

That made him look her in the face.

"Who are you? No, hang on, more importantly, _how_ did you get on my ship?"

"Through the door - what do you mean ship?"

"What door?" He ignored her question, answering with one of his own.

"That door." She pointed. He also looked towards it.

"You can't."

"Yeah, you can. Just push it open and walk through."

"But, you _can't_!"

**A/N: Please review xxx**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I don't own Doctor Who. We left the Doctor and Ella arguing about a door.**

Chapter Three

"Yes, you can!" She said, half exasperated and half patronising as if talking to a confused two year old, and marched up to it, holding up a hand. "Look!" She pushed it open and made to step out, but was prevented when a steely arm closed around her waist and yanked her back.

"OW! What was that for!"

"You can't just step out - we're orbiting Earth!"

"We are not!" She said, more disbelieving than anything.

"Look!" He imitated her and pointed out through the doors. Straight ahead was the cold, velvety black of deep space, interrupted every now and again by a pinprick of a star and down far below them was the Earth.

"Woah." Ella managed after a couple of minutes.

"Yeah." The strange man agreed.

"That is just - woah. I mean, seriously _woah_."

"We've established that."

"Sorry it's just, it's - " He gave her warning look and she stopped herself from saying 'woah' one more time. "It's - beautiful."

"Yeah," He agreed absently this time, looking at her rather than the view. "You're taking this very well."

Ella shrugged one shoulder. Frowning now the strange man reached past her and shut the doors before returning to the console, Ella following slowly behind.

"So, you really just walked in?"

"Yeah, well more ran in but - " she let the sentence trail off as she took in her surroundings.

"But you can't just walk in, she won't let you."

"Who's she? Wife, lover, girlfriend? Jealous type?"

"She is this ship. It's the TARDIS - Time And Relative Dimensions In Space."

"Really? What's with the flimsy wooden doors then? You should have one of those ramp things, you know, where the steam comes out when they're lowered, all sci-fi like."

"I don't need a ramp to be all sci-fi." He informed her in a reprimanding tone and flicked another switch. "And as for you - _you_ are a meddler!"

Ella opened her mouth to protest that she was no such thing, when she realised that he didn't appear to be addressing her but the ceiling.

"The rule is - no letting random people walk in." He was pointing at the ceiling in a scolding manner. "She is, you've never met her before!" Ella, curious, wanted to ask what she was supposed to be but didn't feel she should interrupt, there was some sort of argument going on. "Hmm, well, time will tell."

He shot Ella an appraising look, oblivious to the effect his conversation had had on her.

"You really are taking this very well."

Ella decided to ignore that little interlude, a bit to much to get her brain round at the moment.

"You said that - perhaps I'm just one of those very calm people."

"No, it's not normal, this is not normal." He walked up to her. "What happened when you got in here?"

"I hit my head, knocked a bit unconscious. That reminds me - you've got a bloody great metal beam going across your corridor - who has metal beams like that? And I don't mean a nice wood one, I mean _metal_!"

He wasn't really paying attention to her ramblings, but had taken out his silver pen thing again and was shining the light in her eyes. She hit his hand away.

"I thought we had decided that pointing that thing at me was a severely bad plan."

"Hmm, sorry. Why don't you sit down?"

He gestured to the chairs set to the side. She made her way gingerly over to them, her legs were reminding her of the sprinting she'd been doing earlier on, and he went back to his controls.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"Where do you live?" he asked, hands hovering, ready to move into action.

"Derbyshire." He flipped some controls. "But I'm staying in London at the moment." He sighed and undid what he'd done so far and started again.

"Whereabouts?" He asked.

"Barnes, 4 Ferry Road."

"Very nice," he commented.

Ella giggled.

"It is, yeah."

"So, who lives there?" he asked, curiosity overcoming him.

"My uncle and aunt. I'm staying with them for a bit. I'm on my gap year."

Ella suddenly came over all tired and lay down flat on the chair, staring up at the ceiling again.

"Going to uni in London next year, I'm taking - "

"What's your name?" He interrupted suddenly. She frowned lightly at him to indicate her disapproval at these casual manners.

"Ella Marlowe. Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"Oh." was all she said, sleepily at that.

He usually got more of a response, oh well, there were more pressing matters.

"Well, Ella Marlowe," she had shut her eyes but opened them at the sound of his voice, flicking them in his direction to show she was paying attention. "I really don't think you should go to sleep."

"Why not?" To Ella, sleep seemed by far the best plan ever.

"You've got concussion - sleeping is definitely not the best thing for you to do right now."

She let her eyes drift shut again even as he finished the sentence. Noticing this he clapped his hands together loudly, making her jump and send him a fulminating look.

"Why don't you tell me what happened to make you end up inside the TARDIS, unconscious?" he asked conversationally, as if this happened all the time.

"Well, I was out with some friends, just for a couple of drinks. I was walking home at about eleven, twelveish - "

"By yourself?" He interrupted.

"You sound like my mum." She frowned at him, continuing before he could tell her off anymore. "Anyway, I went to cross the road when this bloke comes along in his car and all but runs me over. To be honest, I was a _little_ bit tipsy, which is probably why I kicked the car and yelled at him a bit." She was silent for a moment as if contemplating this, he stared at her with both eyebrows raised. "Well, whatever the reason, he got out the car and came after me. It was about this time I noticed he wasn't exactly - _human_, if you know what I mean."

"I know," he replied, even though it was more of a rhetorical question. "What was he?"

"Sort of a - puffer fish. Human body, puffer fish head." Her hands were gesturing to the relevant points on herself as if he wouldn't know what she was referring to.

"Oh, a Peixis. There have been a few in Cardiff, this one must have come further afield."

"Must have," She agreed sarcastically, who knew stuff like that? "Anyway, I ran for it and it chased me, I turned into this alley and noticed the doors as the only way out. Ran in here, down those steps and ended up hitting my head on that stupid metal beam of yours. Then I woke up and met you."

She turned her head to smile at him but he was still looking at her in some sort of concern. He seemed to regain his power of speech after a moment.

"You are a _complete _liability." He stated before turning back to the controls.

Her smile changed to a frown instantly.

"I didn't start it! It was chasing _me_!"

"You kicked his car!" the Doctor protested.

"I - well, yeah, but - I - "

"It's alright, we're here, you don't have to think of a come back."

Infuriated she pushed herself forcefully out of the chair. Apparently to quickly for recovering brain as the room began to swim again and she had catch hold of the nearest thing, that happened to be the Doctor's arm, to steady herself. She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them with determination.

"Right." She stated firmly and the pair of them made their way out through the doors.

**A/N: Please review! x**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry it took me a while to update, I had to make an important decision but now I have so all is fine! Except that this is the last chapter of this story :(**

**I don't own Doctor Who.**

Chapter Five

Once outside she paused and took in her surroundings. He came out behind her, sorting out the collar of his coat and she turned round to face him.

"I said Barnes, not Hammersmith." She recognised the street they were standing on as just up the road from Hammersmith tube station.

"Oh well, won't be far," he replied, setting off down the road. She sighed, exasperated by the man, and set off, in the opposite direction.

"This way, Doctor." she called over her shoulder and he wheeled around to follow her, trying to look as though he hadn't been going the wrong way at all.

He caught up as they reached the traffic lights and flung out a hand to grab her and prevent her from crossing the road. He forced her to wait for the lights to change and by this point she was a little bit grumpy. She decided that he deserved nothing more than to be subjected to her complete silence for the rest of the journey.

It didn't last long.

"Do you reckon I should go to hospital?" she asked after thinking it over a bit.

"Nah, they've got quite enough to deal without people with mild concussion wandering in." He sounded quite unconcerned by her serious injury.

She frowned at him but decided it was probably best to pick her battles.

"So - you have a spaceship?"

"Yeah." He turned to look at her curiously. "Have you only just worked that bit out?"

She was silent for a moment, before hitting him very deliberately on the arm. She might be concussed and still more than a little drunk but she knew an insult when she heard one.

"Ow!"

"Oh, it didn't hurt." She insisted, trying to prevent herself from feeling any sympathy whatsoever.

"It did! You _hit_ me!"

"Come on, that was nothing!" She laughed at his deeply injured expression but managed to control herself enough to rub the battered spot on his arm for him. "Sorry, but you did deserve it."

"Did not, and that's a rubbish apology."

She shrugged her shoulders, thinking she probably had more important things to worry about, and began walking again.

"How far is it anyway?" he asked, with a distinct whine in his voice.

"Not much further, anyway you're the one who landed in Hammersmith instead of Barnes." He opened his mouth to object but she interrupted him. "Here we go," she announced, turning right into Ferry Road. Not much further along she turned down a garden path towards a house with a dark blue door and a large silver knocker.

Surprisingly, light was spilling from the windows. Ella frowned and glanced down at her watch. "It's one in the morning, why are they still up?"

"Yeah, about that," the Doctor reached up a hand to scratch the back of his head. "I might have come back a bit earlier."

"How much earlier?" Ella asked in a quietly menacing voice.

"Umm, it's maybe, ten o'clock?"

Ella glared at him and sighed before reaching out a hand to ring the doorbell.

"This is going to be worse than jet lag isn't it? I'm going to wake up at some ungodly hour tomorrow morning," She sighed again and then her expression changed as she realised something. "How on earth can it be earlier? How did you _do_ that?"

"Not on Earth." He replied enigmatically but before she could demand a more detailed explanation the door was opened by a man of middle age, middle height and dark hair, her uncle.

"Good evening," he greeted them with a boyish smile.

"Hey Patrick," Ella replied, giving him a hug.

"Did you have a nice evening?" He asked, glancing at the Doctor curiously.

"Yeah, it was fine. Um, this is the Doctor." She was standing in the doorway now, looking a bit awkward.

Patrick held out his hand and the Doctor shook it.

"Nice to meet you. Do you want to come in?"

"Oh, no, it's alright thanks. Just wanted to make sure Ella got home alright."

"Ok, well, I hope to see you again some time," He nodded to the Doctor and sent Ella a sparkling, suggestive look, something that was clearly a family trait Ella shared. She frowned him down but he disappeared unfazed. Ella was left confronting the Doctor, who was still standing on the step.

"Um, you can come in if you want. Maybe a cup of tea?"

"Ohh, tea," He looked sorely tempted, casting an uncertain look back towards the road. "No, better not."

"Ok." She said quickly, trying to not look disappointed.

"You better get to bed anyway," He commented.

"I can sleep now, then?" she asked in a teasing tone.

"Yeah, should be ok. Drink a few glasses of water, take a couple of painkillers and expect a banging headache in the morning."

"Oh, joy." Nothing she hadn't experienced before though.

They smiled at each other and an uncomfortable silence prevailed for a moment.

"Well, best get going," the Doctor announced, gesturing over his shoulder.

"Yeah," she agreed, but reluctantly.

"See you around, Ella Marlowe." He grinned.

"Bye, Doctor."

He began to walk down the path and was already several steps down the road when she called after him.

"Doctor!" He stopped and turned around, curious. She ran to him and reached up to give him a sudden hug and a kiss on the cheek. He hugged her back, surprised but happy. "Thank you." She said solemnly, he nodded. She stepped back a few paces and smiled again.

"Maybe, one day, I'll meet you when I'm not concussed and a bit more coherent." There was only the slightest suggestion of a question in her voice but he caught onto it.

"Maybe." He agreed smiling back at her. Then he waved once and turned away again.

She looked after his retreating back for a while, before taking a deep breath, nodding to herself and turning to go back into the house, hoping to scrounge some food and avoid awkward questions.

**A/N: Mwahahaha! Why, yes I AM evil. **

**But panic ye not faithful reader (as David would say) they are going to have to end up together somehow and I know exactly how it happened - I just haven't written it down yet... Gimme a review please! Even if it's just to say you're annoyed with me! xx**


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